It seems that Korean Air is preparing to welcome a new fleet, with the airline on the cusp of a purchase agreement for the Airbus A350 family.
Korean Air will sign a contract with Airbus for the procurement of 33 A350 family aircraft.
When finalised, the deal will cover 27 A350-1000s (the stretch variant) and six A350-900s (the launch variant). Koeren Air values the order at USD 13.7 billion.
The A350-1000 is the largest in the A350 family and can accommodate from 350 to 410 passengers in a standard three-class configuration, with a range of o 16,000km with full payload. The A350-900 variant is about 7 meters shorter than the A350-1000 with a range of 15,370km and typically seats 300-350 passengers in a three-class layout.
Koeren Air has not identified any interiors or seating suppliers at this time.
The order will supplement the airline’s long-term fleet operations as it gradually retires its older aircraft. The move is taking place in the backdrop of meeting sustainability goals, whilst the airline continues its plans to integrate Asiana Airlines – once all the regulatory hoops have been cleared.
The airline can deploy the aircraft on its long-haul routes such as Seoul Incheon-New York, where the airline currently operates two daily flights.
In addition to the agreement to purchase 33 A350s, Korean Air plans to introduce 50 Airbus A321neos, 10 Boeing 787-9s, 20 Boeing 787-10s, and 30 Boeing 737-8s.
For the airline, the upcoming order will give options with their diversified fleet as to how they operate it (which will only grow when the Asiana Airlines fleet merger is completed).
Diversification is wonderful, but that comes with the cost of maintaining lots of different fleets, as well as the crew training and operating the types.
It’ll be interesting to see if Korean Air continues this approach, or chooses to rationalise its fleet types over the years.
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